while i'm at it... rods..

[shaun]

I decided i would look into the rods i have a bit more. Do rods have a pn# on them? How can one tell what rod they have? The first rod i looked at i thought i found the pn# but so far every rod has a diffrent number in this location. Here's a few pics.
Pics of one of the rods..
http://reitanfamily.com/gallery/d/11304-1/07-31-06_1323.jpg
Here's a few small pics of the numbers i found on the rods. Some of the rods say GMD on them another rod i saw GM with alittle 8 above it.
says 224
http://reitanfamily.com/gallery/d/11303-2/07-31-06_1322.jpg
looks like it says 201
http://reitanfamily.com/gallery/d/11314-1/07-31-06_1328.jpg
looks like 461
http://reitanfamily.com/gallery/d/11316-1/07-31-06_1418.jpg
this one says 143
http://reitanfamily.com/gallery/d/11318-1/07-31-06_1419.jpg
Also i just noticed, the pistons have grooves for clips but the shop i had hang the pistons did not put clips in them, are they suppose to?

[GofastRacer]

Those are truck rods and you have pressed pins, no spirolocks!..

[shaun]

Thanks, they didnt come with spirolocks but i just wanted to make sure... Are those numbers just a random thing or do they mean somthing?

[SmokinLowriderSS]

Looks like GM Standard rods. What bolts are in there? If they are knurled shank 3/8"ers, even GM reccomends replacement at every rebuild.
Go to ARP and get a good set, once, and sleep better once it is together.
http://www.arp-bolts.com/
If they are 7/16" bolts, forget I said anything. :)
From my Chevy Power Service Manual: (loaner from a buddy)
PN 14015328 Con Rod, 3/8" bolt, Prod 454, '70-74 Pressed Pins (the comon rod)
PN 3856240 Con Rod, 3/8" bolt, HD rod. '65-'69 HP 396/427, factory Magnafluxed, Pressed Pins, rib on cap, blue color code stripe.
PN 14096151 Con rod 4340 Steel, Knurled 7/16" bolt, Pressed Pin, (LS-6/LS-7) Pressed Pin, Magnafluxed, Shotpeened.
PN 3969804 Con rod 4340 Steel, 6304 alloy Boron Steel 7/16" bolt, Floating pin, (HD), Magnafluxed, Shotpeened, green stripe color code.

[shaun]

i had arp pro series 3/8" bolts put in them a while back.. rods where also resized.
Those pn#'s are great... but where are they on the rod?

[VD CRUISER]

P/N's not on the rod. You have the so called STD rod. They should be ok with the good bolts and being reconditioned, unless you've had a screw up since the work was done. What kind of RPM do you anticipate.

[SmokinLowriderSS]

Yep, unlike Ford (and I do not know about dodge), Chevy made 2 rods, different material, all same length, does look like 3 maybe, with the cap-rib thing, at least this is Mk-IV info. They made it stronger by the better bolts that went into it as an assy. The bolts/nuts are avail separately too for upgrades if desired, or at least were in the early '90's. They put no casting numbers on them. Everything that went hi-perf got magnafluxed.

[SmokinLowriderSS]

The engine folks near me I have spoken to on my upgrade project have no issues with me pushing my stock rods up to 500+ HP and trying to stay below 6,000 RPM. It's high RPM that is hell on the rods. Consider the acceleration/deceleration, stopping/starting stresses at the ends of the stroke with the rod yanking on the piston weight suddenly.

[GofastRacer]

This is a standard rod with 7/16 bolts, actually there are two types of these rods the 68 Corvette and the stronger 69 rod(on the right, more material on the shoulder) along with the Boron bolt that became the standard rod, the standard 3/8 bolt rod look the same!..
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/21Con_Rod2.jpg
Shaun has the "truck" rod, notice the extra material on the shoulder which actually makes them a stronger rod. And yes fully detailed with good bolts they will take 500(N/A)hp and high rpm's, I turned mine 7500 no problems, back in the day we used them in the race car, 200 passes no problems!..But with the price of aftermarket rods these days, it's not worth investing all the detail work in them for high output motors!..
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/21Rod1.jpg

[SmokinLowriderSS]

Thx for the photo clarification on the truck rod thing. I see the extra meat on the shoulder webs above the journal you were refering to. I was unaware and had seen nothing of it in my sourcings. :) :) Yea, there were some issues with the pre-'69 rods breaking in Hi-perf aplications, fixed by the newer rod.
Yep, the 3/8" std bolts look like the 7/16"ers on the left, just a LOT smaller. I replaced mine winter 04-05 on the rebuild.

[GofastRacer]

Mainly the breakage was from the knurled bolts more than the less material, I mean wtf knurling is a flaw right, lol, when they went to the Boron it helped big time!.. Since the area around the bolt is the same on both rods, with the Waveloc bolts the 3/8 bolt rod is actually stronger with the extra material around the bolts!..

[shaun]

I'm not sure what my app is going to make, some say 500-550. It's a jet with a berk A imp so i'll maybe be turning mid 5000's. My msd box will have a 6000 rpm pill in it too so worst case 6000 rpm.
Thanks for the info, each day my mind is changing, run the cast iron crank, or buy a cast steel crank and rebalance for 400ish. Today i'm on the run the cast iron crank, but i'm sure tomorrow when i wake up that will change :)

[SmokinLowriderSS]

Shaun, I'm running my stock cast crank, the stock rods, ARP Wave-Loc bolts (not the Pro's, I went a step down, cost/bennefit analysis), still 8.5:1 compression as I had no $$$ for new pistons when the rebuild happened, ARP main studs on a 2-bolt block, lightning headers, Performer RPM Air Gap 2.0 manifold, Isky custom grind cam, making 400HP this summer, and she runs and responds great, and she doesn't make me worry at 5-grand on the tach. There is a difference between building solid, and wasting money. No offence tro the folks who have Carillo this, Callies that, H-beam rods, etc, to run 600/700HP, but IMO, it isn't needed, unless they are spinning scary high RPM. I don't have the budget for top-shelf everything, but it sure would be nice.
Best of luck to ya my man, however you do it, and remember, if ya aren't careful in the right places, the super-mondo parts can be broken, and they are just more spendy to replace. :cry:

[shaun]

Ya but is it cast steel or cast iron :)

[SmokinLowriderSS]

It's a GM Factory orriginal, circa 1978 casting, so I have every suspicion it's Iron, but I really have no idea, or way to prove it. None of my sourcing books get specific on it.

[GofastRacer]

Cast steel is aftermarket, OEM's are cast iron!..

[shaun]

Cast steel is aftermarket, OEM's are cast iron!..
ahh, i was under the impression that all 4bolt bbc came with cast steel cranks. i think im just going to run it and cross my fingers.

[SmokinLowriderSS]

ahh, i was under the impression that all 4bolt bbc came with cast steel cranks. i think im just going to run it and cross my fingers.
It'll be fine. Your fingers tho, if you're driving crossed, may be another story. :p